China Increases Rare Earth Quota

This article from AP announcing China's relenting to pressure to increase rare earth exports. We have to question why other countries are not willing to put in or increase their own production. Is environmental degradation acceptable in some countries but not others? While we are debating this question we should ensure that every step to reduce the consumption of rare earth metals have to be explored and adopted.
This brings me to the Power Jockey and battery reconditioning. We have proven that we can double the service life of HV batteries with these methods pioneered by the Battery Clinic. Hybrid and electric cars are set to replace gas guzzling petrol versions as fuel prices escalates. This will increase demand for high capacity batteries and rare earth metal use. This technology developed by the Battery Clinic will stretch out our rare and limited resource a little further.

August 23/08/2012

BEIJING (AP) - China on Wednesday slightly increased this year's quota for rare earths exports under controversial controls on the exotic minerals needed by manufacturers of mobile phones and other high-tech products.

The Commerce Ministry announced an export quota of 9,770 tons for the second half of the year. Added to the quota for the first six months of the year, that brings the 2012 total to 30,996 tons - an increase of about 3 per cent over 2011.

China has about 30 per cent of the world's rare earths deposits but accounts for more than 90 per cent of production. It alarmed global manufacturers by imposing export curbs in 2009 while it tries to build up a domestic processing industry to capture more of the profits that go to US, Japanese and European companies that transform rare earths into mobile phone batteries, camera lenses and other products..........

Can a Power Jockey improve the main Hev Battery

This is an interesting question. The purpose of the Power Jockey is to enable a weaker battery to work with the vehicle. It does this by keeping the operating voltage above critical level. (Power Jockey Graph)
In our lead acid battery reconditioning process we use battery desulphators which basically feeds ripple current into the battery to break up the sulphation. Can this process also benefit Nimh batteries? Some people believe that in their experience with Nicad batteries in model airplanes ripple current did benefit the batteries.
The Power Jockey in it's latest configuration was change to introduce this effect. It is difficult to test this phenomenon but I had the chance to drive an NHW10 with a reconditioned battery and a Power Jockey installed from Auckland to Paihia (240 Kms) and back twice last week (24-30/6/2011).
In the first trip the turtle showed up nearing the top of high hills. The vehicle exhibited good power. I was able to accelerate uphill and speeds of up to 96Kph. When the turtle showed I had to slow down to about 70 Kph to allow the battery to recover. When the turtle went away I could accelerate away again. On the way back the triangle appeared possibly due to the delta SOC exceeding 50% and the vehicle went into a different mode. There was more power and acceleration uphill was even better. I could easily hit speeds of 120 Kph on the flat and 97 Kph in hill climbs. ( There are some very long and steep hills between Auckland and Paihia. )
On my second trip back to pick up someone I left behind, as I had to come back to work! I could feel that the vehicle was getting more responsive and there was much more power. Back in Auckland after a short stop the triangle went away!! This happened by itself  I did not reset the computer with our scan tool. I have never experience this before. Hev batteries never improve after the triangle shows up. So did the Power Jockey improve the battery? I can't say and this is just one instance. Maybe others who install the latest configuration of the Power Jockey can add to this.

The Power Jockey

Development Of The Power Jockey

As the HEV battery ages the weaker cells will fail as soon as they are stress beyond their ability to maintain the discharge current. Battery reconditioning mainly replaces the weakest cells and equalises the capacity of all the cells in the battery pack. The next weakest cell will still collapse as it fails to  maintain the discharge current. We have come to a point where unless we find a way to protect the cells from failure we had to stop HEV battery reconditioning altogether.

We need to find another way to help these weakened cells. The answer seem to be in our stress test where we subject the battery sub pack to 100 amps of load. We discarded cells that cannot maintain 5.6 volts. The idea was to prevent the cells from being discharged below this voltage. The most important feature was that it had to be working whenever the car is in use. This lead us to the two phase boost augmentation system.

Everything points to the fact that this can't work because we are just using the petrol engine for the augmentation system and it must surely be more inefficient! However we proceeded to prototype development and trials on a hunch that contary to percieve logic it may work.

The Power Jockey

It is called the Power Jockey because, like a 50kg jockey controlling a 1000kg animal, The Power Jockey only output a mere 1000 watts ( for the prototype) but controls a motor that operates at 33,000 watts.

The system is comprised of two operating phases.

The first is the base voltage support phase. For the prototype this function was performed by a 12 volt 1000 watts inverter outputting 230 volts AC. This phase ensures that the minimum voltage output by the system is 230 volts. At this minimum voltage each sub pack is arrested from dropping below a predefined voltage ( 6 volts in the case of the prototype ) thereby preventing excessive discharge and sub pack failure.

The second is the voltage boost phase. For the prototype this function was taken up by the rectifier and the capacitor which rectified and boost the current to 350 volts DC. Power output between 230 volts and 350 volts “rides” in support of the voltage of the hybrid battery pack. This feature delivers slightly more power to the electric drive. The overall result being to keep the ICE comfortably within it's efficient operating range hence more power and fuel economy.

A distinguishing feature of this invention is that it derives it's power from the vehicle's own (12 volt) charging system. This enable the system to operate independent of any support batteries, as the 12 volt charging system is always on hand whenever the vehicle is operating, The Power Jockey is always “available and working”.

Benefits of the Power Jockey

1. Overall increase in power to the vehicle as a more efficient electric drive also contributes towards a more powerful ICE motor as both are now working within it's best effective range.
2. More power leads to better fuel economy. The vehicle engages the silent drive more often. The ICE does not have to labour in the low REV range where it is inefficient. Acceleration is smooth and quick.
3. Protects the battery sub packs from failure by preventing the battery pack voltage from falling below the critical threshold where the sud packs will be damaged under load.
4. Allows a weak or even damaged battery pack to work with the vehicle as the parallel voltage tricks the car computer into accepting that the overall battery pack voltage is normal. Holding up the base operating voltage prevents the ICE from disengaging itself from the drive train.
5. Using power from the vehicle's own charging system, ensures that the Power Jockey is working all the time.
6. Simplicity of the design and quality component used in it's manufacture ensures that the Power Jockey is robust and reliable.
7. The unit is small and compact and is easily mounted in the boot of the vehicle occupying very little space.
8. As the unit only needs to be connected to the battery and the vehicle's charging system installation is a simple matter and can be accomplished by the vehicle's owner although it is recommended this job is done by a professional. Even if installed by a professional it's simplicity means low cost of installation.
9. Cost of the Power Jockey is low. It is less than a fraction of the cost of a new battery pack replacement and even less than the cost of reconditioning the battery. Vehicle owners can even choose to just replace damage cells in their battery pack which is cheaper than a full battery reconditioning service.
10. If installed in a new vehicle or with a new battery pack it will extend the life of the battery as the battery pack will have a shallower depth of charge and discharge.
11. It is conceivable that with the Power Jockey installed the battery pack could last the life of the vehicle purely because the owner can never accidentally or intentionally stress the battery beyond the point where sub pack damage occurs.
12. Expensive parts such as air flow meters and plugs on coils that have to be changed even with little deterioration in efficiency because loss of power in the ICE quickly leads to battery pack failure as more load is placed on the electric motor. With the Power Jockey installed these expensive parts can be used longer leading to less maintenance cost.
13. People purchase a hybrid because they save on fuel and as a result it is good for the environment. Their only concern is the cost of battery pack replacement and the reliability of an older battery. With the Power Jockey installed we are confident that this fear can be completely ameliorated.
14. Once confidence in the reliability of the hybrid vehicle is established these vehicles will have good resale value and many more people will choose to change over to hybrid and electric vehicles which will mean huge savings to the economy and benefits to our environment.
15. The inverter also allows the vehicle to be used as a generator, when 230 volt AC is required in off grid locations or in the instance of a blackout. When used as a generator the ICE will turn itself on and off automatically.

Reply to a Matt's question - Updated

i purchased a reconditioned battery from The Battery Clinic last year to get my car back on the road, which it did and ran great after fitting it. I was told that the battery computer would have to be replaced to get rid of the triangle as the computer gets damaged from overcharging.
Patrick i see that you're now able to have the battery computer repaired, do you know if there is any way to check for sure that its damaged also im guessing that driving the car with the computer in this state could cause damage to some cells? If so im hoping i can replace the damaged cells myself and get rid of the triangle with a repaired computer,
Matt

I nearly gave up repairing the battery and as luck would have it I found a company with an S2000 scanner who were able to clear the error code encoded in the battery computer. The triangle error is cleared but the problems which caused the battery to fail are still there.

Firstly the HEV battery is already more than 10 years old and wear and tear has reduced the battery's capacity. Reconditioning only replaces dead cells and increases the capacity to a working battery again but it will never have the full 100% capacity of a new battery. The advantage is that the hybrid car does not need a 100% capacity to operate at full power. It only need the battery to hold it's voltage for the short burst that is required of it.

The Air Flow Meter has probably never been changed since new and it should be replaced every 100,000 Kms. If this equipment is not functioning correctly it will cause the battery to fail. This is more important as the capacity of the battery is not 100%.

The spark plugs should also be changed every 10,000 Kms. These are just standard spark plugs and are not expensive to replace but will improve the performance of the ICE motor.

You can try to change the cells yourself by taking out the most suspect cells looking at the voltage. I can supply good cells. This is still not fullproof as some cells show good voltage and collapse only under high load. It is all relative so unless you know how much charge a cell has to start with you can't be sure if a cell collapse because it is bad or has low capacity.
After you have had it fixed then you must ensure that other problems with the car are not contributing. Usually the air flow meter.

Your battery is still under warranty so you could send it back to be reworked.

Great opportunity to own a hybrid vehicle

One fact that goes unnoticed is that the Toyota Hybrid not only saves money on fuel but also cost less to maintain. The weakness is the HV battery.
The HV battery In the Toyota Hybrid was expected to last between 8 to 10 years. The HV battery in the series 1 hybrid manufactured between 1998 to 2000 are failing or have failed. The problem is that a replacement battery cost more than the car is worth.
The Battery Clinic is the only company that specialize in restoring and reconditioning these HV batteries and give them a new lease of life. We charge a fix fee of $1500 for this service.
Knowledge is power and we have had a few people bring in vehicles that they have bought for $2500 - $3000. We recondition the battery and they get a very good cheap vehicle for their commute.
This car still drives like new - very smooth and still gives the good fuel economy. At $5000 and the likelihood that the battery will last for another 5 years your cost of vehicle ownership is as low as it gets.
Our company owns 3 series hybrids for 3 years now and the only maintenance cost are the tyres, and oil. Because of regen from braking, brake pads do not wear out as fast.

Hey Bro - It could be the 12 volt battery not the HV

Before you blame the HV battery in your hybrid vehicle, check out the 12 volt battery.
1) The dashboard lights up, the gear shift box shows, but when you turn the ignition key nothing happens. Sometimes you will see the dash dim and nothing happens.
2) The car starts but idiot light such as power steering etc shows but they still work and the vehicle seems to be working eratically.

Unlike normal petrol vehicles the 12 volt battery in the Toyota Prius Hybrid is not used to start the petrol engine. The problem here is that the 12 volt battery does not have enough charge to power the computers. Check the voltage of the 12 volt battery. It should be at least 12.5 volts.

If the battery is weak change it and presto - you are away again. This advise will probably save you some money as the local mechanic who may not know too much could charge you many hours to discover this problem or to not discover this problem!

Battery Computer Fault - Series 1 Prius

Just last week we had a series 1 prius that has the battery charge indicator going wild. It would go halfway to full then to yellow with the tortoise appearing. By now our reconditioning process is perfected so we reconditioned it found the battery pretty dead but fixed it sucessfully even changing 6 dead cells.
When we put it back in the car we had the same problem so we drove it around thinking that we had to equalize the cells. This did not work so we had to take the battery out again. We tested the battery again with 100 amp load and found it to be very strong.
The suspicion then fell on the computer. We loaded the battery into another vehicle and lo and behold the same symptoms appeared. Wild jumping of the charge level indicator even though there was good power when the car was driven.
We changed the computer and all problems disappeared. First time that we have ever encountered a computer failure even though it did not bring up a battery fault.
What happened here was the computer software malfunction in the charge input sensors. This triggered a low battery to show the tortoise and reving up the petrol enging to charge and put in more power. It then sense that the battery if at full power immediately and went to half and 3/4 level immediately. Round and round we go as though there was very little charge in the batteries.
Anyone had this problem before?

Interesting Toyota Estima Hybrid Car Story

We had a call yesterday from a dealer from Christchurch whom we won't name here. They had a customer with a Toyota Estima Hybrid. The inverter that charges the hybrid battery failed. They sent away to Japan for a replacement. It took 4 months to arrive and when installed they found out that the main hybrid battery was dead. They asked our price for reviving this battery to which we answered with our standard charge of $1500 but that they will have to deliver the battery to us in Auckland.
About a couple of hours later a lady rang us and asked us about our charges to fix a Toyota Hybrid battery. She said that she found us through our website www.thebatteryclinic.co.nz We of course told her $1500 not realising that the two events were connected.
She then told us that she was quoted by the dealer $2600 plus GST. Our price was including GST.
What is interesting is that our lady fried turn out to be a reporter.
We managed to get this main HEV battery fixed and another happy customer.